National Gallery of Canada
One Look Is Worth A Thousand Words
Facial expressions can communicate complex emotions. Examine expressions in several hyperrealistic works of art before beginning a project. Learners will create their own clay faces that show an emotion using either photos or their own...
Teach with Movies
Teaching Students to Write a Narrative
Encourage narrative writing with a clever exercise. Class members watch episodes from movies and describe what happened to a character, including details about the setting, plot, and characters. Writers then craft a narrative about a...
Curated OER
The Function of Music
Explore concepts of audience, purpose and symbols in this lesson from Media Smarts that asks high schoolers to consider all the functions of music. Through a series of discussions and activities, your class will brainstorm possible...
English Language Support Programme
Traditional Irish Music
Celebrate sean-nós, céilí, and the lilting music of the Emerald Isle with a set of language arts activities! Learners complete word puzzles, vocabulary exercises, and comprehension questions about traditional Irish music.
Sandra Effinger
Bulletin Board Project
Imagine a project that informs and entertains. Replace book reports with a bulletin board that highlights all the important elements of a novel. Readers research the author, create a timeline of events in the story, write a...
Curated OER
Homer's The Odyssey
Whether or not you are new to using The Odyssey with your classes, this publisher-produced teaching guide deserves a place in your curriculum library. The packet includes background information, chapter by-chapter summaries, study...
Curated OER
ourney Through Time: Art Tells the History of Nebraska
Fourth graders discuss early Nebraskan history. They view and discuss the painting "Sodhouse Family." Students are directed to the artistic elements of the painting, such as the horizon line. They follow a prescribed procedure to create...
Curated OER
Teaching a Second Language Through Art
Students study the names of ten colors and shades of some colors. They count to ninety-nine, examine the names of the lines and several geometric figures, and differentiate between singulars and plurals. They name the parts of the face...
Curated OER
Pop Art-Reflections of the Mass Media
Young scholars select a common object or a face, and draw or paint it on a flat surface making it larger than real life. They choose a common object or simple scene and repeat it horizontally or vertically as defined rows. They create a...
Curated OER
"Jabberwocky": Inferring
Pupils, over an extended time, read and explain the nonsense words of Lewis Carroll's poem, "Jabberwocky". They infer the meaning of the poem using visualizing as well as decoding skills. While written for first graders, this is easily...
Curated OER
Fish Banners
An art lesson involving fish can accent a wide variety of subjects. Here are the steps needed to create a fish banner with paint, shapes, cardboard, and paper. This would be a nice way to start or finish a unit on fish or underwater...
Curated OER
Composer/Musician Study
Learners research a musician or composer of their choice and present their research through a written paper and free choice activity. This lesson can be done over the course of five to six classes with some homework. The paper...
Curated OER
Origami Ducks: Geometry, Listening, and Following Directions
Make origami ducks with your class to reinforce geometry concepts and vocabulary; develop fine motor and visual translation skills; and enrich study of Japanese culture, the pond habitat, or migration. Create a whole group "worksheet"...
Curated OER
Children's Literature Across the Curriculum Ideas-Shakespeare and Macbeth: The Story Behind the Play
Students read Shakespeare and Macbeth: The Story Behind the Play by Stewart Ross. They complete a variety of cross-curricular activities surrounding the play and Shakespearian culture. Included are reading, art, math, science, writing,...
Curated OER
Art in Engineering - Moving Art
Students study how forces are applied in the creation of art. They design mobiles and pop-up books while identifying which forces of nature act upon them. They look at air currents, gravity, and hand movement.
Curated OER
Making It Personal: Gender And Identity in Art
Eighth graders study the role of gender in art. They examine aspects of personal identity. They assess and utilize the properties of a variety of art media and their ability to convey messages and meaning.
Curated OER
Art as Social Commentary
Students view artworks that make a statement about social conditions. They discuss the artworks, write about them and present their ideas to the class. They create socially conscious art pieces of their own.
Curated OER
Messages in Art Work
Observe images and discuss what messages they convey. In this critical thinking lesson plan, learners determine whether works of art are trying to persuade their audience. They also consider the media and how they communicate messages to...
Curated OER
Visual Arts, Literary Arts, and Performing Arts: Their Connection and Place in America's Minority Culture
Students explore the rich, varied, and full artistic culture of each of these three minority groups, Native Americans, Chicanos, and African Americans. They explore art through dance, music, literature, and many other different mediums....
J. Paul Getty Trust
Shaping Ideas: Symbolism in Sculpture—Lesson 3
The final session in a sequential, three-lesson sculpture study designed by the education staff of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has class members using the criterial they developed to critique each others' symbolic sculptures.
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Brain Inspiration
"Neuroscientists consider Cajal as important to their discipline as Einstein is to physics." The first of four lessons has scholars view Santiago Ramon y Cajal's drawings of neurons. They reflect and respond to the art through writing...
Busy Teacher
The Phantom of the Opera
It's no masquerade! If Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera is part of your curriculum, check out this three-page packet loaded with suggestions for before, during, and after reading activities.
Curated OER
Shaking the Movers: Youth Rights and Media
Children have rights! Exploring those rights and using media to express those rights is the focus of this Media Awareness Network lesson plan. Although some of the law links reflect the Canadian Articles of The Convention, the majority...
Primary Resources
Drama Warm Ups and Circle Games
Circle games, energetic games, calming games, exit games. Whether used as ice breakers, warm ups, or exit strategies, or used in drama classes or content areas, the 28 games detailed in this packet deserve a spot in your curriculum...